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Che Summeruville News
WINSTON E. ESPY
PUBLISHER
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Address All Mail to: THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, P. O. Box 310, Summerville, Ga. 30747
Editorials
Pain Worth Price
It won't be long before work will begin
on widening U. S. 27 from First Street in
Summerville to First Street in Trion, a
distance of little more than four miles.
Georgia's Department of Transporta
tion has awarded a $4.5-million contract to
C. W. Matthews Contracting Co., Mariet
ta, for the project. Another million dollars
may be spent clearing the right-of-way and
relocating utilities.
Some local residents may be able to
pick up temporary employment on the pro
ject, which is not due for completion until
just before Christmas, 1987.
The area between First Street and the
railroad tracks in Summerville, in par
ticular, is likely to become quite congested
Vote On Freeport
Nothing has been done in Chattooga
County about informing residents about
the advantages and disadvantages of
freeport. In some cases, local public of
ficials have no idea what the proposal
involves.
In essence, it is a mechanism for pro
viding some degree of property tax exemp
tion to certain qualified inventory belong
ing to industrial companies. It is design
ed as another incentive to draw industry
to a community. It exists in Walker and
Floyd, but not in Dade, Catoosa, Gordon
and Bartow Counties.
The Chattooga County Chamber of
Commerce should make a public and ac
tive effort to acquaint local governmental
officials and the public with freeport.
Fund Chattooga Library
Chattooga County's Library Board
made a wise decision last week when it
voted to seek a new director to succeed
Rita Linker, who has accepted a position
in Bartow County, rather than affiliating
with a regional library.
That means that the library board will
continue to exercise full control over the
fine facility in Summerville and the branch
in Menlo, now located in spacious new
quarters. Within monetary constraints, of
coursge. Some of the advantages that might
accrue to the Chattooga County library
should it affiliate with a regional library
seem more apparent than real.
As some board members recall, the
library’s last experience with a regional
unit was less than satisfactory. That's not
to say such problems would arise in a
future affiliation, but there appears no real
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39 YEARS AGO
The following are excerpts from the Aug. 14, 1947 edition of The Summer
ville News.
* * *
FEWER GA. FARMERS NEED TO BORROW, CREDIT SURVEY
SHOWS — Reflecting the better financial condition of Georgia agriculture, the
volume of bank credit used by Georgia farmers is currently lower than it was
a year ago, according to D. L. McWhorter, president, Farmers and Merchants
Bank, who represents the Georgia Bankers Association as Chattooga County
“key banker.”
“Georgia farm families are probably in the strongest financial position that
they have ever been,”” Mr. McWhorter said.
. el
DR. GIST NEW MANAGER OF LOCAL HOSPITAL — Effective Mon
day, Aug. 11, operation and management of the Summerville-Trion Hospital
was assumed by Dr. William T. Gist, who has been associated in practice with
Dr. W. B. Hair since Jan. 1. Dr. Gist has leased the hospital from Dr. Hair,
who has retired from active medical practice.
The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County
DAVID T. ESPY, JR
GENERAL MANAGER
TOMMY TOLES
EDITOR
WILLIAM T. ESPY
ADVERTISING MANAGER
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At Summeruville, Ga. 30747
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during some of the clearing, relocation and
construction work. Motorists will have to
allow extra time for travel and extra pa
tience as the work continues in that area
and northward to Trion.
Progress is not without pain. But the
end result of the widening will be a safe
roadway and another step closer to a
multi-lane highway to Rome and better
connections with 1-75. That will help
toward the goal of obtaining more jobs for
Chattooga County.
We've started on the long journey
toward more prosperity. The U. S. 27 pro
ject between Trion and Summerville is on
ly one manifestation of our determination.
Voters in Chattooga County should
have the opportunity to vote on the three
segments of freeport. If any part of
freeport were approved, it would still be
up to local governmental officials to imple
ment if they so desired. However, the time
consuming task of bringing the issue
before the voters would have already been
handled and the measure would be “in the
wings" for an opportune time to imple
ment freeport. That is, assuming it would
be approved by voters. Regardless, they
should have an opportunity to vote on
freeport.
It would save the county money if a
freeport election were to be held Nov. 4 —
the same day as the general election this
year.
reason at present why such a move might
be advantageous.
The library’s current books-by-mail
and branch libraries are reaching many
people throughout Chattooga County. The
Town of Lyerly is contemplating future
library space in its new city hall, which
would further increase reach of the
library’s services.
Chattooga’s library hasn’t received an
increase in its funds from the county since
1983, a periotl approaching four years. It
seems evident that services may have to
be cut unless those funds are provided.
Commissioner Harry Powell should
give serious consideration to providing
those funds, regardless of cuts in federal
revenue sharing money, which no govern
ment should have ever depended on for
operating costs.
Viewpoint
By Tommy Toles, Editor
Another Delicacy
After writing a column about true
Southern cooking (“If it ain't fried, it ain't
Southern”), some readers have gotten the
mistaken impression that I think about
nothing but food. The gravy stains on my
tie and my desk being full of ‘‘goodies™
have nothing to do with how they formed
that opinion.
Nevertheless, a gourmet columnist has
a responsibility to bring the latest
delicacies to the attention of all the quiche
eaters out there. You know, the ones who
are wearing funny, strangely decorated
short britches called ‘‘jams.”” Another
California perversion, no doubt.
Anyway, all of us, ynreconstructed
Southerners have been used to fried
chicken, pinto beans, sawmill gravy,
‘tators, 'maters, turnip greens, cornbread
and cathead biscuits for years (mercy, it
makes my mouth water just to write about
such great vittles).
And if the truth be known, we have
also joined with the rest of the Union in
partaking of imports from the land of the
Rising Sun. Such things as Sony TV sets,
Panasonic radios, Konica cameras and
Seiko watches. Quite a few of us have
made Detroit folks madder than an auto
worker having to put in 40 hours a week,
by buying Japanese cars. (One Honda I
drove 135,000 miles is still going strong in
Rome four years after I sold it).
Now Japan has come up with a food
stuff that even the delicate palates of
Southerners can digest. Plus, it has the ad
vantage of being cheap and plentiful.
Nope, it’s not sushi, a revolting dish that
is responsible for the Japanese losing
World War 11.
It's kudzu.
As+ Ray Stevens would say,
thaaaatttt’s riigggghhhhtt . . .
Kudzu. It was brought to Georgia
earlier in this century by a well-meaning
agricultural “‘expert” to stop soil erosion
caused by Sherman wearing deep ruts in
to our sacred earth in the 1860 s. It work-
On The Funny Side
By Gary Solomon
Plastic Chewies?
I read recently that the ingredient
which gives some ‘“‘chewy’ style packag
ed cookies their softness is a type of edi
ble plastic. Though this may be the first
admitted use of the substance in food, I
strongly suspect the frozen fish sticks
mom served us as kids contained a healthy
portion of it.
At any rate, my wife won't eat these
cookies anymore after hearing this news.
But I can see all kinds of advantages to it.
For one thing, it would seem you'd
never need a raincoat or umbrella again.
Just bring your plastic content up to snuff
with a few chewies and moisture would roll
off like water on a duck’s back. London
Fog might go bankrupt, but that’s what
free enterprise is all about.
Our children could become legitimate
heirs to the Hefty Bag fortune by passing
one simple test: not bursting a seam with
an elephant standing on them. And rather
than seeking revenge on the twit who
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ed. Yep. Did it ever!
Parts of South Alabama haven't been
seen for years (no great loss) because of the
green monster. And segments of Georgia,
including our beloved Chattooga County,
are in danger of being devoured one night
by the creeping tendrils.
But the Japanese have arrived at a
solution — using kudzu as food.
Its tips are cooked like asparagus and
its roots, some of which reach from
Georgia to Japan, are cooked as
Southerners would boil 'tators.
The Japanese also let the roots dry and
grind them up into a white powder, which
is then used to thicken sauces, soups
(gravy?) or as a coating for deep-fried
foods. Fried? These recipes must come
from South Japan.
They even grow kudzu. Deliberately.
They harvest about 750,000 pounds a
year with 85 percent of it being used as
food. Some of it includes kudzu powder us
ed as cooking starch. The young leaves can
even be used in salads.
Think of it. With all the kudzu in Chat
tooga County, we could corner the market
— become the OPEC of kudzu. Kudzu
grown south of the Mason-Dixon line has
got to be better than anything they can
grow in Japan, so it should be easy to force
the Japanese out of the business. We could
export kudzu back to Japan.
Since it’s not hurt by anything except
wild hogs and goats, Chattooga County
farmers would have it easy. It doesn’t need
cultivation, fertilizer, weeding — or water
ing. They'd just have to be sure to harvest
the crop before the first frost.
We could start out small. First of all,
each person in Chattooga County who has
kudzu on his land and who knows a
Yankee should immediately ship a rooted
kudzu cutting northward. After all, we
wouldn’t want to be selfish and keep this
little culinary secret all to ourselves, would
we?
claims I have a plastic smile, I could com
pliment him for such keen insight.
I have to wonder how long it will take
other industries to catch up with the
plastics braintrust.
For instance, aluminum could make a
mint in the diet business. “Lose pounds
the easy way! Replace that heavy cellulite
with lightweight dimpled aluminum!
Never suffer through another grapefruit
fat burner ad again!” There might be a few
kinks to work out, like overcoming the
urge to pull into every recycling plant you
pass and resisting the desire to become in
timate with your car bumper, but
American ingenuity could surely solve
those minor problems if there was money
to be made.
Ingesting real oak or maple wood could
increase your value tenfold and also
eliminate hard feelings in the golden years.
The phrase ‘‘well-preserved” would take
see ON THE FUNNY SIDE, page 5-A
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Guest Column
By Richard H. Fink
Decontrol Gas
About the best news consumers have had in years has
been the world oil glut. We're all reaping the benefits of
abundant oil supplies at our local gas stations, where tanks
can be filled for less than a dollar a gallon in many areas.
And a primary reason for this oil glut has been decontrol
of the U. S. oil market, which spurred greater production
and injected much-needed competition into the oil
business.
Well, if decontrolling prices has worked so well in cut
ting oil prices, why not consider getting rid of the remain
ing price controls on natural gas?
Like oil before 1981, almost half of the U. S. natural
gas on the market today is subject to government price
controls. An earlier partial decontrol of natural gas prices
eliminated the government’s power to set the price of
natural gas discovered after 1977. However, an estimated
40 percent of U. S. gas supplies were discovered prior to
1977. Because of the price controls, producers have had
more incentives to find new, higher-priced gas while sit
ting on older, controlled supplies, withholding them from
the market.
This frustrates the natural tendency of increased ex
ploration- to lower prices by maintaining an artificial
restriction on supplies. Nevertheless, partial decontrol has
slowed the rapidly rising cost of natural gas which, bet
ween 1973 and full decontrol of “new” gas in 1985 had
been increasing an average of 15 percent annually. Dur
ing the first full year of decontrolled prices of “new’ gas,
residential gas prices increased by less than one-half of one
percent, and actually declined in 14 major cities.
The average wellhead price of natural gas has fallen
from $2.81 per thousand cubic feet to $2.34, or close to
nine percent this year. Yet continued price controls are
limiting the ability of consumers to reap these benefits.
Because the Reagan administration is committed to in
creasing natural gas supplies, it's appointees on the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (which sets the
price on controlled natural gas) have now raised the price
ceiling on so called “‘old” gas to above market levels. This
should ultimately produce the same kind of results in the
natural gas markets as decontrol, but I fear it will still not
be as effective as repealing the government's price-setting
powers.
For one thing, there's no guarantee for potential pro
ducers that another crew of regulators won't take over the
FERC in a year or two and reverse the current pricing deci
sions. Or Congress could step in, allegedly in the name of
the consumer, to reverse the ruling.
Clearly, the history of oil price controls (and the subse
quent decontrol of oil prices) should give our government
the confldenco to continue along the deregulatory path.
Like the gas lines oil price controls brought to service sta
tions twice in the 19705, federal price controls on natural
gas created a national shortage during the winter of 1976.
That ‘winter of discontent is but a distant memory today.
But, if our government does not take the final plunge and
decontrol all natural gas prices soon, we may be bound
someday to repeat it. Then we'll finally understand why
they called that yuppie nostalgia movie “The Big Chill.”
(Richard H. Fink is President of Citizens For A Sound
Econo.my,. a 250,000 member Washington-based citizens’
organization).
News Clips
POINTED RIGHT
Men, like tacks, are useful if they have good heads and
are pointed in the right direction, — Adair News
* * *
COOL OFF
A good way to get rid of unwanted guests is to turn
off the air conditioner, — Chicago Tribune
* * *
LARGELY
Education is largely a matter of choosing one’s com
pany wisely, and listening in silence. Detroit News
* * *
: OUT-MANEUVERED ;
Going to a party with your wife is like going fishing
with the game warden, Whatever you catch you've got to
throw back. — McAlester (Okla.) News
MDA~